Sustainable Agriculture

If you plan for a decade, plant trees. If you plan for a century, educate people.

Traceability

Balmed sources cocoa and robusta coffee from over 13.000 small scale farmers in Sierra Leone. Before entering the Balmed Certification Programm, every farmer must be registered within the system and get a unique farmer code.

In 2011 we had some interesting visitors. The german singer and Fairtrade supporter Annett Louisan came together with Dieter Overath, performing director of Fairtrade Germany and Wolfgang Jamann, director of WHH (german agro action), to visit the cocoa project. The delegation vivisted the farmers in their villages to check on the fair working conditions.

"Fairtrade can support cooperatives like MCGC with marketing. With the Fairtrade certification it is easier to have market access."

Said Dieter Overath, performing director of Fairtrade Germany. Hence the cooperative set up an internal control system with all its participating farmers, to guarantee fair labour conditions and preclude child labour. Currently all 7000 participating farmers are certified against the Fairtrade Code of Conduct.

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BALMED IS A LISTED MEMBER IN THE WORLD COCOA DIRECTORY PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COCOA ORGANIZATION ICCO. WATCH OUT FOR THE UPCOMING WORLD COCOA DIRECTORY 2015/16 AND THE COCOA MARKET OUTLOOK CONFERENCE ON 22ND SEPTEMBER 2015 IN LONDON.